Upgrading on a budget

[ChinoNYC]

I'm looking for a motherboard for my current ATX case. Currently, if you look at my specs, I am using an ECS L7VMM v1.1 with an AMD Athlon XP 1700+ processor and 512 MB DDR SDRAM. I will upgrade the RAM soon enough but I'd like to know what would be the best solution on a $200 budget, maybe $300 if I can get a halfway decent processor on the cheap. Must have AGP 8x/4x as I currently use GeForce FX 5500 and would like it keep it that way for now. Wouldn't be for anything special other than DOS playability via WIndows 98 and VB programming via Win 2K/XP.

Just some thoughts amongst the community about which one would be the better overall product for me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SNGX1275]

Well, are you hoping to recycle any parts from your current setup or are you wanting to have 2 total?

Take a look at this bit I stole from Rage_3k_Moiz in this thread.

Try this build:

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail - $59.99
• GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - $79.99
• G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail - $34.99
• Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $74.99
• Antec earthwatts EA380 380W ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail - $39.99
• Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - $54.95

Grand Total = $303.92 without considering shipping on some items (Shipping is free for most of them). A nice sturdy system that will last long and will do everything you want it to effortlessly. It gives you expansion options too, with a PCI Express slot on the motherboard and a PSU capable of supporting any card upto an 8800GT (Just in case you think of delving into the addiction that is PC gaming ).

I think you'll have some difficulties getting 98 to run properly on a modern system, so you may be better off running 98 in a virtual machine from within XP on that.

That machine obviously doesn't have an AGP slot, but its not worth buying a motherboard now that has one because it limits you so much on everything else, trust me, I did it once. Plus that FX5500 probably isn't any better than the onboard video on the motherboard.

 

[Acclamator]

Fantastic recommendation, I might try to force a little bit of more money out to get a stronger power supply though.

 

[SNGX1275]

Yeh you could up the PSU if you were going to put in a hotter video card. But that is a pretty solid PSU for the wattage. If he's going to recycle the HD thats $75 right there he could put into a PSU (or just drop the total price down much closer to his original $200).

For a tight budget though that computer will do fine and as Rage said you could probably run an 8800GT on it even.

 

[ChinoNYC]

Sounds like a plan to me, but I will have to wait until the new year to sort out this mess with a certain holiday called Christmas coming along in about 5 weeks. I may just recycle the current PC as I really have no need to keep multiples hanging around. Thanx for the suggestions.